13 best pink gins to brighten up your G&Ts

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Whether you’re a gin connoisseur or simply up for tasting new flavours, these are the best tipples to try.

Alicia Miller, The Independent

Some pink gins seem made only for Instagram, with neon hues and outrageous branding. But award-winning distilleries have been entering the game too, turning out dry craft spirits in elegant pale hues, fragranced with intriguing botanicals and quality fresh fruit. If we’re getting technical, many of the spirits labelled as “pink gin” are probably vodkas or liqueurs, because they lack the strong juniper character that makes gin, well, gin.

When choosing our 13 favourites, our own rules were simple: as well as being pink in colour, each gin had to have both a distinct juniper note and a noticeable “pink” flavour – whether from berries, pink grapefruit or even rose petals.

Mirabeau’s enticingly pale pink Provençal rosé wines have legions of fans. But its gin is a real streak of genius, too. Infused with local scrubland (garrigue) botanicals, including lavender, thyme and Menton lemon, it also contains a very special ingredient: a wee splash of their own popular wine. Besides adding a gentle fruitiness, this lends the gin a blushing, sophisticated hue.

Of all the spirits here, this one is, perhaps, nicest to drink neat. It also has a strong sense of place; one sip and you’re whisked away to French lavender fields, baking under the Riviera sunshine. Basically, this is a gin that’s been made like a wine, by winemakers. And yet, this is a serious gin for gin drinkers – extremely dry, and with a floral perfume that is pretty without being overbearing.